Alex Manners, D.M.A.

Biography

Hornist and educator Dr. Alex Manners, a native of Lee’s Summit, Missouri, serves as horn instructor at Glendale Community College and is an active freelance horn player and educator in and around Phoenix, Arizona.

As a performer, Alex has had a wide variety of experiences, including performances at Carnegie Hall, Lincoln Center, and in London’s New Year’s Day parade. He has played extensively with regional orchestras, including winning positions as fourth horn in the West Valley Symphony and second horn in both Symphony of the Southwest (Mesa, Arizona) and Sinfonia da Camera (Urbana, Illinois). He has also appeared with such groups as The Phoenix Symphony, Arizona Broadway Theatre, the Tucson Symphony, the Champaign-Urbana Symphony, and the Heartland Festival Orchestra. He is a past participant of both the Eastern Music Festival and the Hot Springs Music Festival, and he has also performed in a wide variety of honor ensembles, including being selected as principal horn for the 2005 College Band Directors National Association Small College Intercollegiate Band in New York City. Alex has also been active as a chamber musician, having been a member of the Urban Brass Quintet, the op5 Brass Quintet, the Next to Normal Brass Quintet, the University of Illinois Graduate Horn Quartet, and currently performs with the Phoenix Brass Collective. 

As an educator, Alex served for six years as band director for two rural Missouri high schools—teaching everything from band to choir, music appreciation, and even elementary music. Currently, he serves as a junior high and elementary band director in the Dysart Unified School District. Additionally, he is an adjunct instructor of horn at Grand Canyon University. His passion for music education goes beyond the classroom, however, including a presentation at the Southwest Horn Conference on horn warm-ups from the 1940's and 1950's, receiving publication in the journal of the International Horn Society, the Horn Call, serving as the director of the University of Illinois Horn Choir for two years and many other community engagements promoting the value of music. Alex holds a BA in music and a Master of Arts in Education from Truman State University in Kirksville, Missouri, a MM in horn from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, and a DMA in horn from Arizona State University. His principal teachers have included John Ericson, Bernhard Scully, and Patricia Mickey.

Find Courses I Teach